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Amagerbanen
Amagerbanen was a Danish railroad line from Copenhagen to Dragør on the island Amager, inaugurated on July 10, 1907.
Passenger trains ceased in 1938, but reopened in 1940–47 due to petrol and rubber scarcity during the German occupation. On 15 June 1957 the southern, rural half of the line was closed due to enlargement of Kastrup Airport. The remaining segment from Copenhagen to Kastrup was operated as a freight line until 1991 and officially closed in 1995. The company of Amagerbanen was acquired by the Danish State Railways in 1975.
The actual Amagerbanen began at Amagerbro station, situated at the inner section of Amagerbrogade, the main street protruding from the centre of Copenhagen. Passenger trains never ran through to Copenhagen Main Station. Passengers needed to transfer by tram.
A link to Copenhagen Freight Station existed by way of tracks belonging to the harbour, crossing on a low double swing bridge next to Langebro. A branch of Amagerbanen went to the petroleum harbour at Prøvestenen.
During its first decades of existence, the railway transported "night soil" (human waste) out of Copenhagen to be used as fertiliser for the intensive vegetable cultivation on rural Amager. Latrine buckets were collected during the night and brought by horse carriages to a facility east of Amagerbro station, the waste collection company later known as R98. The facility, colloquially called Lortemøllen (The Shit Mill), transferred the matter through pumps and pipes to railway cars holding three large barrels. The cars were more euphemistically known as chocolate waggons (chokoladevogne). Amager has often been called "the shit island" (lorteøen) by other Copenhageners.
From 1930, Amagerbanen owned all omnibus routes on the island and gradually transferred passenger traffic to buses. Although the northern half of the line developed into a suburban area, the city mainly expanded into the centre of Amager and not along the coast. The southern area was much more sparsely populated. The intense freight traffic to the industrial area along the northern segment caused the railway to be profitable for a long time.
The railway was used in the 1975 movie The Olsen Gang on the Track. The gang robs an armoured wagon with gold bars and takes it on a detour to Amager with a stolen shunter locomotive. Criminal genius Egon Olsen falsely believes that the railway has been closed since passenger traffic ceased in 1947, and they almost collide with a freight train.
The tracks were mostly present until construction of the metro line M2 from the city centre to Copenhagen Airport, which was built in a trench along much of the same route as the former railroad and completed in 2007. Simultaneously, the former industrial area along the Øresund coast of Amager has been mostly transformed to a residential area along the constructed beach at Amager Strandpark.
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Amagerbanen
Amagerbanen was a Danish railroad line from Copenhagen to Dragør on the island Amager, inaugurated on July 10, 1907.
Passenger trains ceased in 1938, but reopened in 1940–47 due to petrol and rubber scarcity during the German occupation. On 15 June 1957 the southern, rural half of the line was closed due to enlargement of Kastrup Airport. The remaining segment from Copenhagen to Kastrup was operated as a freight line until 1991 and officially closed in 1995. The company of Amagerbanen was acquired by the Danish State Railways in 1975.
The actual Amagerbanen began at Amagerbro station, situated at the inner section of Amagerbrogade, the main street protruding from the centre of Copenhagen. Passenger trains never ran through to Copenhagen Main Station. Passengers needed to transfer by tram.
A link to Copenhagen Freight Station existed by way of tracks belonging to the harbour, crossing on a low double swing bridge next to Langebro. A branch of Amagerbanen went to the petroleum harbour at Prøvestenen.
During its first decades of existence, the railway transported "night soil" (human waste) out of Copenhagen to be used as fertiliser for the intensive vegetable cultivation on rural Amager. Latrine buckets were collected during the night and brought by horse carriages to a facility east of Amagerbro station, the waste collection company later known as R98. The facility, colloquially called Lortemøllen (The Shit Mill), transferred the matter through pumps and pipes to railway cars holding three large barrels. The cars were more euphemistically known as chocolate waggons (chokoladevogne). Amager has often been called "the shit island" (lorteøen) by other Copenhageners.
From 1930, Amagerbanen owned all omnibus routes on the island and gradually transferred passenger traffic to buses. Although the northern half of the line developed into a suburban area, the city mainly expanded into the centre of Amager and not along the coast. The southern area was much more sparsely populated. The intense freight traffic to the industrial area along the northern segment caused the railway to be profitable for a long time.
The railway was used in the 1975 movie The Olsen Gang on the Track. The gang robs an armoured wagon with gold bars and takes it on a detour to Amager with a stolen shunter locomotive. Criminal genius Egon Olsen falsely believes that the railway has been closed since passenger traffic ceased in 1947, and they almost collide with a freight train.
The tracks were mostly present until construction of the metro line M2 from the city centre to Copenhagen Airport, which was built in a trench along much of the same route as the former railroad and completed in 2007. Simultaneously, the former industrial area along the Øresund coast of Amager has been mostly transformed to a residential area along the constructed beach at Amager Strandpark.